Despair's Edge
by WorldOfSol
Summary: OC insert. A retelling of the School Life of Mutual Killing from the point of view of Evelynn Briar, the 17th student, who doesn't quite know why she came to attend Hope's Peak in the first place. Eventual Togami x OC.
1. Prologue

_A/N: So this is my first fanfiction! This is purely experimental, so I have no idea how far I'll actually get with this or even how I expect this plot to go. So whilst updates will most likely be very inconsistent, please enjoy whatever I manage to upload! I'm entirely open to any thoughts and criticisms anyone might have on my writing ^^ Thanks for reading!_

* * *

 **Prologue:**

Hope's Peak Academy.

The school where those who graduate are guaranteed success in life. Where those who have talent are exclusively sought out to attend. Where I'm going to be attending starting today as a student of its 78th class.

I stare it down guardedly. It certainly is impressive up close, with its tall, refined brick buildings reaching up into the sky. As of right now, the gates in front of me are the only obstacle blocking my entrance into the school grounds. That can be remedied quite simply, but I don't want to remove that obstacle just yet. For just a while longer I'm content standing on the other side of the barrier. I'm not nervous to enter this new world; it's just strange to leave my old one.

It's only when I start wondering why I decided to do this again that I figure I should start walking forwards. I'd already come this far and I'd told myself back when I accepted this offer that thinking too much about it would achieve little else but hindering myself. Placing step after step towards the gate silences my reluctant thoughts. I'm not turning back now. That would be pointless.

The pristine, metal gate opens to a push from my gloved hand with ease and I continue moving my feet forward in a standard pace. For such a large, imposing school positioned right at the heart of a big city, it's currently very quiet. Not that I'm complaining. It basks in its solitude, surrounded by a solid thicket of evergreens that almost disconnects it from the entirety of the civilisation encircling it.

I survey the area as I close the distance between me and the building. Considering that I'm here an hour early, it's no surprise that there's yet to be any signs of other students. Even so, surely the place is open at this time. There'll most likely be some kind of preparations for orientation going on. As long as I don't get in the way of that, it shouldn't be a problem for me to walk in this early. I don't imagine they'll mind me exploring the school in the time I have before the meeting for all new students either. I finish contemplating my plan of action just as I reach the main door. Next to it, elaborate gold lettering protruding from a marble slate declares the room in front of me the main hall. So this is where I need to be for the meeting at 8am. I don't bother standing around like I did at the front gates, testing the door handle without delay and electing to find a different way in should it not open. Plan B turns out to be unnecessary, however, the handle sounding out a click to allow me entrance.

It's undoubtedly the grandest building I've ever been in, as if the external appearance wasn't enough to tell me that. The main hall presents itself with pride and elegance, reaffirming my beliefs that it's going to take a long time to get used to living here. Similar to outside, it's also devoid of people in here. After performing a brief scan of the room, a noticeboard that I spot a few feet away lures me in with the prospect of new information. I begin to make my way over.

The room swirls the second my hand leaves the door handle. Not just the room, _everything_ swirls. Then, once my brain has decided that I'm dizzy enough, everything goes from swirling to darkness and I pass out.


	2. Chapter 1

_A/N: Here we go with chapter one! I've been doing an awful lot of referencing to the game and I'll be staying pretty darn faithful to the game's prologue, so dialogue currently may seem very familiar to you. Writing for characters that aren't my own is difficult! ^^; so if any of them seem OoC to you, don't hesitate to let me know so that I can improve. Enjoy reading!_

* * *

 **Chapter One:**

When I open my eyes, I instantly sit up alert. I'm in a classroom. The clock directly ahead of my vision above the blackboard reads 7:39. No indication of whether it's am or pm, or even whether or not it's still the day of orientation. However, my head sure feels heavy enough to have slept through it. I readjust the forest green scarf that had loosened itself from my neck in my sleep, pondering. How I collapsed or ended up here in this room in the first place is beyond me. Someone must have moved me here from the main hall. It may be that this someone was a new student who didn't know their way to first aid or simply panicked and didn't know what to do with me, so they just dragged me out of the way and left me here. Whatever happened, I'm not going to discern it by just sitting here.

My attention is drawn to the desk my head was resting on, or more accurately the leaflet sitting on top of it. Multi-coloured crayon spells out a message in childishly scribbled handwriting reading 'Heyo kiddo! Welcome to the new semester! From now on, this school will be your entire world'. It doesn't seem very professional for a world renowned academy. Alternatively, it seems like it would be a strange choice of prank for a student to create as well. So who left it here?

Next object of interest: the plated windows. Or they would be, had I not tucked away the leaflet in my jacket pocket and realised in the process of doing so that most of my possessions were missing. Phone, money, pen… I mentally tick off each item I'd had on my person before entering the school. I'd have to search for them later.

I refocus my inspection on the windows, driving away the slight fuzziness that invades my head when I stand up by employing the genius tactic of ignoring it. Giant metal plates bolted to the wall ensure that no natural sunlight has a chance of filtering in, as well as preventing access in and/or out of the windows. The latter seems to me to be both the more important factor and the more likely reason for them to be there. If that w _as_ the reason, it brings up the question of why access needed to be restricted.

Combining all the unnatural occurrences, a sense of foreboding settles itself in my mind. I've gleaned all the information I can from this room, so it's time to go information hunting elsewhere. The most logical choice of next destination is the main hall, being the only room I presently know of in the school. I'd also find out if I'd slept through the 8am meeting for the new students or not. Mind made up, I approach the door and pause, listening out for any sounds. Silence. I slip out, making certain to be cautious. I'm now in a hallway. To my left isn't a dead end, but I suspiciously eye up the sign claiming that 'Despair Hotel' is in that direction and decide to search for the main hall on the opposite bearing.

I get distracted by a conspicuous pair of bright red doors on the way to the hall, which to my disappointment were locked, but it doesn't take me long to pinpoint my destination. I notice as I near the hall that voices are coming from inside, clearly in discussion amongst one another. Shifting the weight out from my feet, I draw silently closer to the doorway of the hall, listening in. The voices chat idly about orientation, leading me to determine they're not hostile. It's a conversation I figure I want to be part of, though, so I relax my eavesdropping stance and enter the room.

Even though the five students in the hall halt their conversation upon my invasion, I immediately lose interest in them in favour of the giant metal hatch door that demands my concentration. It's attached to the wall behind them, replacing the entrance door that I had walked through before I blacked out. That definitely wasn't there before. Two hefty security cameras adorn the hatch, one on either side, and they come equipped with a pair of Gatling guns that threaten anyone who would risk going near. I'd spotted security cameras following my actions in the classroom and the hallway, yet none of them were armed like this.

"…Hey! Helloooo? Are you in there?" A girl comes up to me and waves her hand irritatingly in front of my face. I pull my eyes away from the hatch to stare her down. Jumping slightly, she takes a second to get over the surprise of me glowering at her icily and then breaks out into a grin and a wave. "Are you one of the new students like us?" Her brunette ponytail bobs along to her cheery demeanour. She dresses simply, her outfit made up of a white top, red jacket and shorts.

"I'm here for the meeting at 8am," I confirm.

"You're here precisely 11 minutes early! I commend you for your punctuality, fellow student!" A guy with alarmingly red eyes in what looks like some kind of white military uniform all but yells at me. His black haired buzz cut and perfectly straight posture adds to the orderly look. I sincerely hope that he has an inside voice.

"More importantly…" A tall blond with his arms crossed commands everyone to look at him with nothing more than those two words. Even without him saying anything, everything about his presence screams importance and superiority. He dons a perfectly neat suit and refined white glasses, a pair of glacial cerulean orbs leering down on us all from behind them. His tone of voice is rife with his unmistakeably condescending attitude and I already dislike him. Gracing me with his gaze, he continues on. "Have you come here after falling unconscious upon entering the school and waking up in a classroom?"

I freeze. I match his gaze with a glare of my own and we engage in a silent staring contest for a moment. Eventually, however, I inwardly concede that his glare is more piercing than my own and yield to acknowledging his question.

"I did. And you know this how?"

"Because, like, the same thing happened to all of us," A girl in a fashionable outfit answers for him, taking great interest in her long red nails as she did so. Apart from the foot that she's tapping continually on the floor, the most noticeable aspect of her is the long, thick strawberry blonde hair that she has bound up in pigtails. "All of our belongings and junk have been taken too. I can't find my phone anywhere!"

Oh. Okay. In that case, this situation isn't an accident. I turn around and head back towards the door.

"Where do you think _you're_ going?" Mr High-and-Mighty interrogates me. I tilt my head to reply,

"To find information elsewhere. I'm not going to accomplish much standing here,"

"Ah, wait!" The last person in the room speaks up, and I raise an eyebrow at her. Long, dark blue hair hangs loose around her petite frame, a typical school uniform fitting her body. She looks like a doll. "Wouldn't it make sense to wait here? I mean, everyone in our class is probably going to come here for the meeting soon…"

I open my mouth to say that I'm not interested in meeting my classmates when I hear footsteps approaching the hall. I step aside from the door just in time for it to swing open, revealing a laid back looking student with wild red hair and a goatee.

"Yo! Is this the place we need to be for this meeting shindig?" He doesn't wait for an answer before strolling in, taking a few seconds more than he should have to notice the room's main feature. "Woah! What's with the giant metal hatch? I coulda sworn that wasn't there when I first came here,"

"We were surprised by it too! But before that, I'm Aoi Asahina, Ultimate Swimming Pro! Friends of mine just call me Hina, though," The brunette hops a few jumps over to the newcomer and introduces herself. He grins back in turn,

"The name's Leon Kuwata. What's up? I'm the Ultimate Baseball Star, but being totally honest, I hate the sport. Never been to a single practice!" He looks as if he's going to continue talking about himself, but is interrupted by the buzz cut guy.

"Now is not the time for idle chitchat! Introduce yourselves and move on!" Once he's finished berating the couple, he clears his throat. "I am Kiyotaka Ishimaru, Ultimate Moral Compass. But you all can call me Taka. I came to this school to live my life to the fullest! What about the rest of you?" Somehow, I'm not surprised in the slightest to hear his Ultimate title. The blue haired doll pipes up after him energetically,

"I'm Sayaka Maizono. I look forward to getting to know all of you!"

"No way! You're the Ultimate Pop Sensation, right? From that real popular girl group!" Leon leans forwards eagerly, his eyes full of wonder as he stares at the girl in awe.

"That's me!" She giggles, slightly sheepishly.

"If you know her, then like, _obviously_ you're gonna recognise me, right?" Pigtails interjects the conversation, sauntering over to Leon and Sayaka. She doesn't bother to hear Leon's reply, instead flashing him a peace sign, "I'm Junko Enoshima, Ultimate Fashionista, in the flesh and all that stuff. Nice to meetcha!"

Introductions were cut off at that moment by the arrival of a full on goth lolita, hair drills and all. She steps into the room with grace and elegance, raising a dainty hand to her mouth when everyone stops their chatter to study her.

"Oh! Pardon me, I am interrupting something?" A thick French accent weaves her sentences, breaking everyone out of their temporary reverie at her striking choice of dress.

"U-um…" Another new, much more timid voice emerges from behind the lolita, where a small girl with light brown, layered hair in a skirt and a fern green coloured jacket hides. Working up the courage to give talking another go, she steps forward. "Is t-this the main hall?"

"You're here for the meeting right?" Aoi asks, and the small girl nods. "Who you are you guys?"

The lolita introduces herself as the Ultimate Gambler Celestia Ludenberg; an odd name for someone who's Japanese, but I don't care enough to find out its backstory. Whilst keeping up her polite manner, she quite forcefully insists that everyone call her Celeste. The smaller girl is hesitant as the group waits expectantly for her to speak, but manages to utter out that she's Chihiro Fujisaki, the Ultimate Programmer.

By this time, the remaining students who we're waiting for are now officially late. They trickle in one by one, each receiving a good scolding from Kiyotaka for being tardy as they enter.

I unwillingly gain the honour of meeting each student. After Chihiro is an extremely bulky woman with stark white hair named Sakura Ogami, who I'm not at all surprised to find out is the Ultimate Martial Artist. Following her is the hot-headed Mondo Owada, the Ultimate Biker Gang Leader with the most ridiculous hair that looks like a baguette and unnatural lilac eyes. The overweight, cringy Ultimate Fanfic Creator called Hifumi Yamada and the dim-witted Ultimate Clairvoyant with impressively large and spiky dreadlocks called Yasuhiro Hagakure turn up at the same time, and they're soon followed by a moody, self-loathing girl with dark twin plaits called Toko Fukawa, who just barely forces out in between her stutters that she's the Ultimate Writing Prodigy.

There's a short break after Toko's introduction, so everyone stands around the main hall and continues some inconsequential small talk. Even though some of them may have been late for the meeting, so is whoever it is who's supposed to be holding this meeting in the first place. I stand indolently amongst the circle of students but don't bother to speak to anyone. None of them appear to have any more information than I do on this whole matter, so it's a fruitless endeavour to strike up a conversation.

A girl with long lavender hair makes her entrance after a while, her attention instantly attracted to the vault door. She dons a jacket the same deep purple colour as her sharp, observant eyes, a brown tie and gloves. For some time, everyone else in the room waits for her to break the silence. When it becomes evident that she has no plans to do so, Mondo speaks up angrily.

"Oi! Are you gonna fuckin' say anything or not?" He's already got his fists clenched and ready for action and I roll my eyes.

"You'd better have a good excuse for your tardiness young lady! 15 minutes late is unacceptable!" Kiyotaka chimes in.

"At this rate, you have to wonder whether this meeting is still even going to take place," Sakura points out, and Sayaka agrees,

"That's true. I mean, I don't know about you guys, but apart from you all so far I haven't seen anyone else in the school,"

"Relax, guys, this is probably all just part of the orientation process, yeah?" Yasuhiro strokes his chin in a relaxed manner, not at all concerned. I spare a glance at the vault door and the Gatling guns and wonder about that. "Anyway, we can figure all that stuff out later. So who are you?" He turns to the girl, who is stood deep in thought facing the metal hatch. She lifts her head after a short pause and faces the rest of us.

"…Kyoko Kirigiri," She provides no further information, deciding that that's all we need to know and redirecting herself to the hatch.

"What about your Ultimate talent?" Trying to prompt more conversation out of her, Aoi steps forward.

"…" Kyoko shows no sign of having heard her, but it would have been difficult not to when she's only two feet away. Junko twitches with impatience.

"Well?" At this cue, Kyoko throws her a sidelong look.

"I don't see why I have any obligation to tell you,"

There's suddenly an air of tension in the room as all of us are taken aback by her unexpected uncooperativeness. Before anyone can say anything, however, one more person enters the room, seeming unsure of himself.

"Woah, hey! Another new kid!" Yasuhiro exclaims loudly, and everyone forgets Kyoko for the time being.

"Huh? Then you guys are all…" A moment is spent to fill him in quickly on the situation at hand. Compared to all the others, this guy looks exceedingly normal. Light brown hair and a dull green hoodie with the Hope's Peak uniform jacket pulled on over it.

Hifumi performs a head count everyone gathered here.

"So counting him, that makes 16. Seems like a good cut-off point, but I wonder if this is everyone…"

"Um, how's it going? My name's Makoto Naegi. Sorry I'm late. A bunch of stuff happened, and then all of a sudden I was just… asleep," He rubs the back of his head awkwardly. He looks a bit overwhelmed.

Although he hasn't been here long, everyone more or less comes to an agreement that this is probably everyone and that we should introduce ourselves to Makoto. And the first person he walks over to is…

"Hi, um," I do nothing but blink for a few seconds at his stumbling greeting. Then I realise that it _is_ me that he's talking to and that I had yet to introduce myself to _anyone_ , let alone the last person in the room. I decide to save him the trouble of asking me for my name and get straight to the point.

"I'm Evelynn Briar, Ultimate Hunter," I sense a few people in my proximity look over at me with both interest and surprise, having forgotten that I existed.

"Where are you from, if you don't mind me asking?" Makoto tilts his head to the side curiously. I don't exactly know what he's going to use the information for, but I comply anyway.

"England. I moved to Japan 8 years ago,"

"Huh. You know, I looked on the Hope's Peak website before coming here, so I was reading up on information about the students. But apart from your name and Ultimate talent, I couldn't find much else about you…?" He doesn't show any suspiciousness on his face, only wonder and puzzlement. I shrug noncommittally,

"I didn't make the website," He accepts that as an answer hesitantly, probably having expected me to supply information about myself for him. Changing the subject, I throw a question his way. "What's your Ultimate talent then?"

"Oh," He laughs a little, embarrassed, "I'm the Ultimate Lucky Student. And by that, I mean I won a random lottery which accepted me into the school as a student," Wow. He really is completely normal. I nod, which he takes as a sign to move on to the next introduction.

By the time Makoto finishes talking to everyone, we hear the first school bell of the semester. Along with the bell, the monitor in the main hall fizzles to life and an obscured silhouette invades the screen.

"Ahem! Ahem! Testing, testing! Mike check, one two! This is a test of the school broadcast system! Am I on? Can everyone hear me? Okay, well then…!" It's loud, high pitched and the most obnoxious voice I'd ever heard before. Confusion settles on the faces of most people in the room, waiting for the broadcast to continue. "Ahh, to all incoming students! I would like to begin the entrance ceremony at… right now! Please make your way to the gym at your earliest convenience.

…That's all! I'll be waiting!"


	3. Chapter 2

_A/N: Oh boy is Togami just as difficult to write as I expected him to be. This is going to be a fun ride XD if there's anyone who's going to seem OoC in this fic it will most likely be Togami, so any and all comments on my method of portraying him would be especially appreciated ^^ but anyway, enjoy reading!_

* * *

 **Chapter Two:**

The broadcast leaves the group in a state of disarray. Many express their unsettlement, and I don't hesitate to leave those ones behind. After all, what else were they going to do? The announcement left behind a prospect of gaining information, something that in this situation I don't want to miss out on.

Mr High-and-Mighty doesn't wait around either. He offers a blunt, offhanded farewell to everyone else before stalking out of the main hall. With nothing else to offer to the rest of the students myself, I follow him out without a word.

He confidently takes a left turn upon leaving the hall, suggesting that he knows his way around the school and that I should probably trust his judgement in direction. We walk in silence, until it occurs that he's the only student who I have yet to acquaint with - not that I particularly want to acquaint with the arrogant individual. Nevertheless, the completionist tendencies inside of me provoke me to converse with him anyway.

"So who are you? I never did get your introduction," He doesn't honour me with a single glance backwards my way, but as long as I obtain an answer from him I could care less.

"Byakuya Togami," He states in a bored tone. At the mention of his surname, I raise an eyebrow. I know the Togami name all too well. As if he's decided the conversation is already over, Byakuya carries on striding along the corridor, neglecting to provide me with any more comments. I'm not satisfied with his answer, however.

"And your Ultimate talent?"

"Ultimate Affluent Progeny," That's approximately what I was expecting after having heard the Togami name. So then…

"Does that make you the heir of the Togami family in that case?"

"Naturally. Now do me a favour and stop talking," Not even trying to hide the annoyance in his voice, he finally looks back at me in order to present me with a scowl. "I'm not interested in engaging in this tedious conversation. I'm sick of hearing your voice. I have better uses for my words than on insignificant commoners like you,"

"By all means, enlighten me on what better uses your words have in this current situation," I allow myself to snark. Talking to him was a mistake; it only served to piss me off. I should have just inquired about his identity to someone else later on.

"Anything that isn't your filthy presence. As the wealthy heir of a massive financial business, you didn't really think I came here to make friends, did you?" I could care less what he came here for, frankly.

"If you believe that I intended to make friends with as someone as obnoxious as you just by asking your name and talent, then you really are conceited," For the first time since I met him, I see Byakuya smirk.

"Attack me with those petty insults all you want. It doesn't change the fact that you're an irrelevant, worthless plebeian, no matter how much you try to delude yourself into thinking otherwise with your weak retorts," We reach the doors to the gym and Byakuya stops, forcing me to stop too. He properly turns to face me, looking down on me with an entirely serious, disdainful expression. I narrow my eyes back at him. "Even your little brain should comprehend that I'm on a completely different level to you, one that you could never even hope to reach. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a far more interesting matter to attend to than your pitiful blathering,"

And with that, Byakuya takes off through the gym doors and our conversation comes to a frustratingly displeasing end. I can taste the bitterness in my mouth from talking to him and I attempt to swallow it down, taking a few seconds to stand in silence and reorganise my thoughts so that he's at the back of them.

Before I get a chance to enter the gym, I hear heavy, clunky footfall sounding out behind me.

"Heyyy, what goin' on Eves?" Yasuhiro's relaxed voice calls out. The nickname makes my eye twitch and I swivel round on the spot to shoot him a glare, my mood still sour from the just gone confrontation.

"What do you want?" Hoping that my visible disposition will ward him off, I don't hide the densely laced irritation in my question.

It all goes straight over Yasuhiro's head.

"Woah, s _omeone_ woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning! Maybe I should give ya one of my fortune readings to perk ya up. For a price, of course!" He withdraws a cheap appearing crystal ball from his jacket and I give him one last acrid look before ditching him in the hallway. Yasuhiro is so immersed in his divinations that he doesn't even notice my departure.

Instead of entering the gym straight away, I find myself in a small trophy room of sorts. I tread my feet across the rich carpet leading directly to another set of double doors and slip through them. This time I _do_ enter the gym, and what I discover…

…looks remarkably ordinary. So ordinary, in fact, that it seems out of place amongst all the other bizarre things I'd seen so far. Two rows of chairs line up facing a stage bearing a podium and the Hope's Peak symbol at the back. The only other person I see so far is Byakuya, who I resolve to ignore, but a microphone and a glass of water have been set up on the podium so I imagine the person who summoned us all here will announce themselves once everyone makes their way over here.

Which they all do, albeit slowly. They all express varying degrees of relief at the sight of a typical looking entrance ceremony, and some of the tension that had previously polluted the air dissipates.

The newfound atmosphere doesn't last long.

"Hey there, howdy, hello! Is everyone here? Good! Then let's get things rolling!" It's the same voice as the one from the school announcement. Everyone turns to the podium in anticipation. For a fleeting moment, nothing happens. Then an irregular figure, no taller than my waist, bursts out from the podium and lands neatly on its surface. All of us are stupefied when we take it in.

"Huh? A… teddy bear?" Chihiro questions. And to our amazement, it responds.

"I'm not a teddy bear!" It certainly looks like one. A very weird one. "I… am… Monokuma! And I am this school's headmaster! Nice to meet you all!"

Its left side black, right side white, the relaxed… thing… sits casually on top of the podium. The white half of its face displays nothing out of the ordinary, but upon its black half is an eerie grin that curves upwards and a jagged, red eye. Hifumi screeches in fear.

"The teddy bear can talk!"

"I told you already, I'm not a teddy bear. I'm Monokuma! And I'm your headmaster!" He jumps to his feet and frantically waves its arms up and down in a childish manner. Hifumi screeches again.

"It moved!"

"Could you quieten down already! My poor little ears can't 'bear' all your screaming!"

"'Bear' all your screaming? Really? You are… unfortunate," Celestia remarks coldly.

"Now then, moving on! We really must hurry and get started," Monokuma realigns himself into a calm pose, as if it makes him look any less ridiculous.

"Giving up already? No more stupid bear puns?" Junko's tone is utterly accusatory.

"Quiet down now, quiet down. Okay, so…!"

"He has abandoned the gag," Sakura comments.

"Everyone, stand at attention and bow! And… good morning!" Kiyotaka wastes no time in bowing, his back straight and at a perfect 90˚ angle to his legs. He bellows out, full of enthusiasm.

"Good morning!"

"Y-you don't have to s-say it back," Toko mutters at the edge of the crowd.

"Now then, let us commence with a most noteworthy and memorable entrance ceremony! First, let's talk a bit about what your school life here will be like. Now, ah, make no mistake – you few students, so full of potential, represent the hope of the world. And to protect such splendid hope…"

Monokuma breaks apart from his speech to hop down dramatically from the podium, joining the rest of us on the wooden planked floor.

"…You will all live a communal life together solely within the confines of the school. Everyone will live in harmony together, and adhere to the rules and the regulations of the school." Had the situation we're in not been so unbelievable, I would have thought to feel despondent at the notion of living with all these people. As it stands, I feel more bewildered than anything else. On our first day at Hope's Peak, we're all standing here listening to a bear demanding us to live together at the school. Why is this even happening?

"How long for?" I speak up.

"Until the day you die!" He chirps, "Such is the school life you've been assigned."

I'm positive this arrangement was nowhere in any of the school documents I'd been sent or agreed to. There's no way I could live here forever, that the school could force me to live here forever. Although, with the vault door and the metal plates…

It's instantly clear that no one in the room is very fond of this idea. Toko looks especially horrified.

"Wh-what did he just say? Until the day we d-die?"

"Oh, but fear not! We have quite an abundant budget, so you won't lack for all the common conveniences," Monokuma doesn't look like he's about to tell us that he's joking anytime soon.

"That's the least of our worries right now!" Sayaka protests, gripping her shirt tightly. Joining in next to her, Junko steps forward to try and threaten the bear.

"Yeah, what the hell? You're saying that I have to live here forever? You're screwing with us, right?"

"I'm _not_ screwing with you!" The sudden loud outburst from Monokuma sends Junko jumping back. Despite his size in comparison to us, the anger resonating from him is overpowering. "I'm no liar, of that you can be 100% sure. Ah, and just for your information, you're completely cut off from the outside world. So you don't have to worry about that dirty, dirty land beyond these walls ever again!"

"Cut off? So all those metal plates all over the school…" It seems as if Makoto has come to the same conclusion that I have. "They're there to keep us trapped in here?"

"Come on, what the hell is this?" Leon both tries and fails to keep his voice level. "I don't care if the school or whoever else is behind it all, this is just a really bad joke."

"Yeah, cut this shit out! It isn't funny anymore!" Mondo yells. Like it was funny in the first place.

"Having to live here forever would be… quite the problem," If Celestia is worried, she doesn't show it. She merely looks mildly inconvenienced by this whole affair. I suppose that's what you would expect of an expert gambler, to be able to hide such concern with little difficulty.

Monokuma tilts his head in confusion.

"Come now, what's the matter with all of you? You decided of your own free will to attend Hope's Peak Academy, didn't you? And now, before the entrance ceremony is even finished, you've already decided you want to leave?"

Yes, I do. Coming to Hope's Peak was a foolish idea from the outset. How did my thought process prior to accepting this offer lead me to believe that I would gain something out of coming here? What even were my reasons for accepting the offer? Did I _have_ any? It's becoming more and more incontrovertible that this whole fiasco was a meaningless undertaking.

Monokuma isn't finished yet. The second half of his speech cuts through my thoughts.

"Oh, but you know, I guess I did forget to mention one thing. There _is_ one way for you to leave the school…" Even though I'm careful to still regard the bear with suspicion, I can't help but perk up at the mention of a way out. "As headmaster, I've crafted a special clause for those of you who would like to leave! I call it… the Graduation Clause! Now, as I've mentioned, in order to maintain an environment of harmony here, we rely on a communal lifestyle. And if someone were to disrupt the harmony, they and they alone would be allowed to leave the school. That, my students, is the Graduation Clause!"

"What do you mean by disrupt the harmony?" Interjects Byakuya, straight to the point. The same irritation he had on his face when talking to me earlier is visible once again, and anyone can tell he's fed up of Monokuma's cryptic explanations.

"Upupupu… well, you know…"

Monokuma's eerie laugh echoes in the gym.

"If one person were to murder another."


	4. Chapter 3

_A/N: And with this, I've made it through the official game prologue! Slow progress, but still progress all the same! Enjoy reading!_

* * *

 **Chapter Three:**

"M-murder!?" Makoto blurts out, panicked. The word doesn't take long to sink into my mind. I'm a little thrown off guard when it does.

"Stabbing, strangling, bludgeoning, crushing, hacking, drowning, igniting, how you do it doesn't matter. You must kill someone if you want to leave. It's as simple as that." This is the most serious I've heard Monokuma sound yet. Staring us all down, he raises a paw and unsheathes his claws. "Like I said before, you guys are the hope of the world. But you know, taking that hope and seeing it get murdered creates a darkened shadow of despair. And I just find that so… darn… exciting!"

"Is that the sole reason you've set this all up?" Unfortunately, my voice isn't quite as controlled as I'd like it to be – I can hear some vague hints of shock seeping through.

"I don't see the problem with my reasoning," Is the bear's only answer.

"But what the hell are you talking about? To kill each other is… it's…!" Leon fumbles out, standing frozen to his spot.

"To kill each other is to kill each other. I'm sure there's a dictionary here somewhere if you need it,"

"We know what it means, that's not the problem! Why do we have to kill each other?" The outburst from Aoi sweeps up some of the other students in her anger. Hifumi is one of those.

"Yeah! Stop blabbering on with all this nonsense! Just let us go home already!"

It's like something clicks inside of Monokuma's metal body.

"…Blabbering?" This one cold word is enough to quell the weak rebellion. Without warning, the coldness shifts to a full on verbal assault. "Blabbering, blabbering, what do you mean blabbering? Stop blabbering on about blabbering on! You guys just don't get it, do you? "Let us go, let us go!" You keep on saying the same thing over and over and over…!" His left eye flashes. "Listen! From this moment on this school is your home, your life, your world. Got it? And if you wanna get out of here, all you have to do is kill! So go ahead already!"

No one has a response. Except, for one bumbling idiot.

"Alright, come on. How long are you gonna keep this up?" Yasuhiro chides, scratching his nose.

"Eh?"

"You got us, okay? You scared the hell out of us. So you can go ahead and reveal the trick now," I'm not sure how even at this stage, Yasuhiro can convince himself that this is all one big joke. Ignorance truly must be bliss. "Cuz I mean, y'know, this _is_ some kinda trick and all, right? So uh, like…"

Mondo's had enough of waiting for him to finish his sentence.

"Dude, shut the hell up and get outta my way," He barges through the crowd, shoving Yasuhiro aside as he did so, and marches right up to Monokuma. The height difference between the two would be more amusing from a less apprehensive standpoint. "Listen up, asshole! This shit's gone way too far! What the hell kinda joke _is_ this!?" Oh, look, another deluded student.

"Joke? What, you mean like your hair?" Monokuma doesn't appear threatened in the slightest.

"FFFUUUUUUUUU-"

Not that I can imagine why, but Mondo doesn't appreciate Monokuma's comment. At all. Within milliseconds he has slammed his foot down on the floorboard, causing the entire gym to shake violently, and he holds Monokuma's neck in an iron-tight grip. The biker gang leader yanks the bear into the air, his other hand balled into a fist primed to strike. There's an enraged fire in his eyes; they're targeted wholly on Monokuma.

"Gotcha, you little piece of shit! I dunno if you're a toy or a stuffed animal or whatever the hell! Either way, I'm gonna rip you to fuckin' shreds!" Monokuma cries out, flapping his useless arms wildly.

"Violence against the headmaster is in violation of the school regulations!"

"Shut the fuck up! Let me outta here, or I swear to Christ…"

Distressingly, Monokuma stops talking. He stops moving on top of that, sagging limply in Mondo's grasp. Then the he starts beeping. Slowly, at first.

"What, no smartass comeback this time?" Mondo growls. It's only when the beeping increases in tempo that warning bells go off in my mind and I instinctively react, jumping backwards away from the bear. On the other hand, Mondo is completely oblivious. "Stop that goddamn beeping and say something!"

"Watch out! Get rid of it!" I have to look over in the direction of the warning to realise that it's Kyoko calling out, who had had yet to speak during the entrance ceremony.

"Huh?"

"Hurry up and throw it!" A ferocity that I don't expect from her stuns Mondo into automatically obeying the command. I put my fingers to my ears while he launches Monokuma into the air, and no sooner than he did…

 ***BOOM***

"The hell!?" The biker gang leader stands frozen, taking a few moments to recover from his near death experience with a bomb. My sensitive ears also require some time to recover, a harsh ringing splitting my head open despite my attempts to prevent it happening.

"So… does this mean the teddy bear's been destroyed, now?" Chihiro pipes up hopefully.

"I told you, I'm not a teddy bear! I'm Monokuma!" Said Monokuma re-emerges from the podium, an exact replica of the one that had just exploded. Leon cries out at the sight.

"Uwah! There's another one?"

"You son of a bitch! You seriously tried to kill me just now!" Mondo seethes.

"Well yes, of course I did. You did violate one of the school regulations, after all," Monokuma repeats the action of jumping down from the podium. "I'll let you off with a warning this time, but you'd better be careful from now on. Any naughty girl or boy who violates my rules won't get off with just a little swat on the butt."

Everyone is aware now that we've all underestimated the aberrant amount of power this bear holds over us.

"H-hey… so does this mean there's like, a bunch more of you around somewhere?" Junko asks, her nervousness apparent.

"Monokumas have been placed throughout the school, yes. Plus, don't forget the surveillance cameras installed everywhere," Monokuma offers us a friendly reminder. "If you're caught breaking any of the rules… well, you saw what just happened, right? Upupupu… I won't be so forgiving with my punishment next time. So don't let it happen again!"

I feel the need to point something out.

"For us to be able to abide by the rules, we need to know what they are," He'd mentioned the school regulations many times now, yet hadn't enlightened us on what they actually consisted of.

"Ah, and on that note…" He brightens up considerably at my statement, "To commemorate your joyous entry into our school, I have a present for you all!" Out of nowhere, he whips out several rectangular objects the size of my hand. "These are our official student handbooks! Pretty neat, huh? As you can see, it's fully digital…" I groan inwardly. "…So naturally, we call them the e-Handbooks!"

Monokuma proceeds to amble around our group, who have by now formed a sort of haphazard semi-circle surrounding him. He makes us each take an e-Handbook from his paws before returning to his spot, satisfied.

"Now, this handbook is absolutely vital to a healthy school life, so don't lose it! When you start it up, it displays your name, so please make sure you always have the right one! It contains all of our school regulations, too, so make sure you review them all thoroughly. Rules restrict, yes, but they also protect. Society, for example, would be utter chaos without laws. The same thing applies here! Which is why it's crucial we have strict punishments in place for violators." Glancing down at the unfamiliar object in my hand, I put off trying to interact with it just yet. "Okay, well, that brings our entrance ceremony to a close! Please enjoy your abundantly dreary school life. See ya!"

And with that cheery farewell, Monokuma hops back up to the podium, disappears behind it and doesn't return. The break from his grating voice provides small comfort, as everyone in the room starts murmuring worried, confused and angry discussion amongst themselves. Finally, Kyoko addresses us all at once, her calm disposition not wavering once.

"First, let's just take a second to summarize everything we've just heard. Based on what Monokuma said, we essentially have two choices. Choice number one is that we each stay here, living a 'communal life' together until the day we die. And the other choice is…"

"If we want to get out of here alive, we have to kill someone. Right?" Celestia finishes for her. Everyone breaks out into murmurs once more.

"It's all lies! All these ridiculous things we've heard, this all has to be fake!" Kiyotaka insists, more to himself than anyone else.

"Right now it doesn't really matter whether it's real or fake. What matters is…" Matching Kyoko in terms of calmness, Byakuya interjects into the conversation. Then, he drops a bombshell of a question on us all, one that silences each and every person here. "…Is there anyone here who's seriously considering all this?"

His question jolts me into the realisation that I can't trust anyone here. I survey the scene in front of me, paying attention to everyone properly for the first time in order to try and scout out any potential plotters. As far as I'm aware, any one of the 15 people before me should have the physical capacity to kill – it's really about whether or not they have the mental capacity. I know nothing about these classmates of mine, so right now it makes the most sense to act based on the assumption that they all _do_ have the mental capacity. After all, my life _is_ on the line now. The only thing I know is that I'm not willing to die just yet.

Seconds pass. We're all eyeing each other up warily, until Kyoko finally breaks the silence.

"So? What are you going to do now? Just stand around and glare at each other?" As disinterested as she sounds, she has a point.

"R-right… she's right! Sometimes, even if you're nervous or afraid, you just have to step forward!" Kiyotaka's loud attempt to boost morale falls mostly on deaf ears, but it at least drags up the discussion again.

"Perhaps, but what is the mission exactly?" Hifumi inquires nervously.

"Idiot!" Leon berates, "To look for a way out, duh!"

"And we totally need to find whoever was controlling that stupid bear and beat the hell out of 'em," Junko's sentence gets progressively more intimidating as she gets more worked up, but Chihiro pulls her back to reality with a different suggestion.

"B-but before we all do that, maybe we should take a look at the handbook. It's probably best to check out the school regulations Monokuma mentioned before doing anything else."

"True. If we stumble around with no idea what the rules are, something like that might happen again." Celestia points out, giving Mondo a pointed look.

Withholding a sigh, I adjust my attention to the device sitting in my hand. I've always been bad with electronics, preferring not to use them. It was only upon deciding to attend Hope's Peak that I bought myself a mobile phone, and even then that was at someone else's urging. I'd barely determined how to use the damn phone before I was to start school today. Not that I need to worry about that now that I've lost it, which I speculate is probably Monokuma's doing.

I examine the e-Handbook with care before tentatively pressing the single, solitary button on its side. Much to my relief, the button is enough to cause it to flash to life, my name displaying on the blue screen before being replaced by a list of 'Map', 'Report Cards' and 'Regulations'. Is this its main menu? Experimenting, I tap the word 'Regulations' and the screen changes to show text describing the first school rule. Ah. So the handbook works similarly to my phone.

Rule #1 declares that we may only reside within the school. Then I find myself at a loss as to how I'm supposed to access the rest of the rules. Observing the other students, I see them swiping a finger on their own e-Handbooks to the left. I imitate the action using my own finger and the image on the screen slides along to the left with it, a new rule taking its place from the right.

Rule #2 states that 'Nighttime' is from 10pm to 7am, and that during this time some areas are off-limits. I continue along.

Rule #3 states that sleeping anywhere other than the dormitory is disallowed, being seen as sleeping in class.

Rule #4 just tells us that we're free to explore the school with 'minimal restrictions'.

Rule #5 reiterates the ban on violence against Monokuma, but adds that destruction of security cameras is also prohibited.

Rule #6 calls a student who murders another 'blackened' and says they will graduate, unless they're discovered. And to conclude the rules…

Rule #7 notes that additional school rules may be added as necessary.

The conversation has already advanced by the time it takes me to figure out how to shut off the handbook. Sayaka's bringing up an inquiry.

"For regulation #6… what do you think it means exactly?"

"You're talking about the second half, right? Where it says 'unless they are discovered?'" Makoto guesses, carrying on when Sayaka nods. "I was wondering about that myself." Admittedly, I found that part curious as well.

"It's saying that if you want to graduate, you have to kill someone without anyone finding out it was you," Byakuya affirms. He says it like it should've been obvious.

"B-but why…? Why do we h-have to do that?" The stutter from Toko causes Byakuya to speak once more, harsher this time.

"I don't see any reason to worry about it. Just worry about following the rules as they've been explained to us. Frankly, I don't want to hear anything from someone who waits for others to decide what to do for them." It seems his insults aren't just reserved for me.

"Well for now, let's forget all that silly junk about murderers or whatever. Now that we know the rules, let's start exploring the school!" Jogging on the spot and full of energy, Aoi moves the topic along.

"True. We need to find out exactly where we are. Is there any way out? What about food and supplies? There are tons of questions we need to answer!" Kiyotaka yells, revved up by Aoi's enthusiasm. Leon finds himself caught up in the excitement too.

"Damn straight! Okay, then let's all start looking around!"

I can't understand how the students around me can work up such optimism. We've just been told to murder each other in order to escape. Yet here they are, suggesting we all work together instead. Do they not realise the gravity of the predicament they're in? They don't know each other. Where did this all this unwarranted trust come from?

Still, not everybody is on board with this buddy-buddy system. Byakuya looks on at the scene in disgust before pushing up his glasses.

"I'll be going alone." He says.

"What!? Why? That's a pretty stupid idea, don't you think?" Junko crosses her arms haughtily, mimicking his stance.

"Yeah! If we want to find a way out of here, we have to work together-" Kiyotaka begins. His naivety accomplishes nothing except an unpleasant twist to my stomach. It might have been laughable if it hadn't been far more exasperating.

"You assume that everyone here _wants_ to work together," Interrupting his cliché speech, I snap bitterly at him. "I certainly don't." His face makes clear that he can't fathom the concept of someone opposing his views.

"Someone here might already have started thinking about murdering one of us. Are you saying we should stand around with them in our midst and make it that much easier for them?" Byakuya backs me up, although I have no doubts that he's just arguing for himself rather than with me. Sayaka objects with a weak excuse.

"W-wait, hold on a second! That would never-"

"Don't bother saying it couldn't happen. You can't deny the possibility. That's why you all seized up in fear when that graduation rule was made clear to you. Am I wrong?"

He's not. As much as I hate to concede to the asshole, he's not wrong. Everyone should know he's not wrong, too, but some of the students are still in denial.

"B-but…" Sayaka tries again, just as weakly as her last protest. Her words trailing off, she look down at the floor numbly.

"So, I'm simply acting in accordance with what I think is best for me."

A loud crunching noise sounds nearby and I locate the source of it to be Mondo, who's cracking his knuckles in anticipation. He's angry. Again. He moves swiftly and accordingly to block Byakuya, who had already begun walking towards the exit.

"Hold on! Like hell I'm gonna let you run off and do whatever you want!"

"Out of my way, plankton." His voice intimidatingly level in comparison to Mondo's, Byakuya adopts the same aggressive personality he'd had earlier when conversing with me. I sense a fierce dispute incoming.

"Wh-!? The fuck's that supposed to mean!?" Mondo translates his perplexity into even more anger.

"One tiny bit of plankton, drifting across the sea. So miniscule, so insignificant, they couldn't possibly have any kind of influence on the boundless ocean." Not even flinching, Byakuya meets this anger with a perfectly composed, yet intense, attitude. I get the impression that Mondo doesn't fully understand the metaphor, but what he _does_ understand is that Byakuya just insulted him.

"I'm gonna kick your ass!" He roars.

While no one originally dared to interfere with the gradually worsening conflict, all of a sudden Makoto dashes up to the two.

"S-stop it! We shouldn't fight!" Regrettably for him, he's made a big mistake. Mondo's far too worked up now to be placated, and now his attention has been diverted to the Ultimate Lucky Student.

"The fuck you say? You some kind of goody-goody little bitch?" Mondo rounds on him, forcing him to stumble backwards with his arms raised up in front of him anxiously. "Who do you think you are, talkin' to me like that? You think you're my fuckin' dad or something!?"

"N-no, I wasn't-!"

"Fuck you!"

 ***WHAM***

Makoto quite literally goes flying across the room. He lands with a thump in a tangled heap of limbs and doesn't move after that. I can see him breathing, though – he's only been knocked unconscious. Remaining in his pose, his tightly clenched fist outstretched, Mondo still seethes with anger. No one knows what to do.

I sigh. So much for that working together proposition Kiyotaka had. Turning away from the scene, I wander over towards the door. My hand makes contact with the handle, I'm nearly out of the room, by the time someone stops me.

"Where d-do you think _y-you're_ going?" Toko speaks up, her voice riddled with suspicion. Halting at the door, I face her.

"I'm leaving. What does it matter to you?"

"You can't just leave!" Sayaka, having run over to Makoto, jumps up from his body at my answer. "Makoto's out cold!"

"I fail to see how that's my problem. If you're so concerned, sort him out yourself." Is my only response. I don't feel like waiting around to become Mondo's next target, so without another word I yank open the door and leave the gym, along with the rest of my classmates.


	5. Chapter 4

_A/N: Woah new update? What is this? ...Long time no see? Y'know that thing called school which throws work at you and drains all your motivation? Thaaat kinda happened. But I'm here now! Stay tuned for chapter five in 2019 ^^; hope you enjoy reading!_

* * *

 **Chapter Four:**

Investigating the school serves as a semi-pleasant distraction from the welcome ceremony. Except, when the rules stated that there would be 'minimal restrictions' to our explorations, they were severely under exaggerating. In addition to the locked red doors I happened upon earlier, the stairwell to the entirety of the second floor is obstructed by a large steel grating that boldly thwarts any attempts at passage.

Regardless, I take the time to discover the area I'll be living in that _isn't_ barred from me. The first new room I find is an infirmary and I can't help but think with an essence of grim humour that it won't exactly be much use for a murdered student. Still, if a non-murder related accident occurs, the infirmary would be a favourable location to keep in mind. A quick onceover confirms that it's stocked to the brim with medicine and blood packs, as well as lined with medical beds all along the left wall. Monokuma wasn't lying when he said the school has a large budget – there's more types of medicine here than could possibly ever be needed. I recognise very few of their names.

I next come across a room I had previously ignored on way my to the main hall called the AV room. I don't hang around there very long, though. The second I see the rows of technological equipment not only taking up the floor space but also hanging from the walls, I decide that this room is far beyond my area of expertise and immediately pass on by.

Those are the only two rooms of note before I return to the hallway containing the classroom I awoke in. Having now acquainted with Monokuma, the sign reading 'Despair Hotel' makes a lot more sense. I'm curious to see what the rest of my living space holds, however, so I don't stop to regard it.

Continuing on, the hallway connects to a much more expansive area of hall. Out of the three doors that I see, one of which is quite obviously blocked off with bright yellow tape, I pick the closest in my proximity, the one to my right. It opens up into vast cafeteria, laden with fairly bog-standard steel chairs and tables. The centremost table is long enough to allow all 16 students here to encompass it, but that idea is just as unappealing as the room's choice of décor.

Walking further in, the glaringly red checkered flooring stretches towards an actual glimpse of the outside world that hasn't been shielded from us, instantly luring me to it. An entire glass wall, the only barricade between me and a small, well-kept garden. The same evergreens that had welcomed me into the school not even two hours ago now mock me from their free, worriless positions. I place a hand on the barrier. How come this glass hasn't been concealed like the rest of the windows here? And, more importantly, if I were to break it, could it be a possible escape route?

With such a large panel of glass, it's going to be at least reinforced. I'm going to need-

"Hey hey hey! What's up? What are _you_ plotting behind my back?" My thoughts are interrupted by a voice I'd hoped had left me alone. Monokuma materialises next to me out of nowhere and peers around to meet my face, leaning in on tiptoes. I almost ignore him. Since he's so conveniently present at this moment, though, I conclude that I shouldn't pass up the opportunity to interrogate him.

"Why hasn't this been plated up?"

"Whaddya mean 'why hasn't this been plated up'? Have you seen the size of this thing?" He gestures wildly at the wall. "It's huge! Ginormous! Humongous! It's an entire wall! It would be super difficult to completely cover up, y'know?"

"And it doesn't concern you?"

"Nope! This glass is totally indestructible!" As if to prove his point, Monokuma gives the wall three resolute knocks with his paw. The dull, blunt sounds that are produced are sorely underwhelming, swallowed up into nothingness.

"How do I know you're not just saying that to deter any ideas of using it to escape?" My face clearly shows how unimpressed I am.

"Geez Louise! You kids and your suspicious attitudes nowadays, lemme tell ya…" Grumbling to himself, the bear takes a few paces away from the wall. "Lucky for you, though, I have _exactly_ the proof you want!"

Without waiting for my response, Monokuma whips his right arm forward and points it at the wall. The arm begins to deconstruct on cue, much to my fascination. Then it reconstructs itself into something else. And by 'something else', I mean a cannon. Attached to his shoulder. _Shit._ Thankfully, the cannon apparently requires charging up, giving me enough time to push off the glass and hotfoot it away from the impending disaster, just managing to vault over a table before-

 ***BOOM***

The room trembles. Having landed back on the floor at the same time of the cannon's fire, I'm forced to rapidly shift my stance in order not to fall. Chairs and tables near the cannon skid away from the blast in recoil. My poor ears protest at the second explosion of the day, this time not having been at all protected. After everything calms down, the unequivocal ring of Monokuma's maniacal laughter reverberates throughout the cafeteria.

"Upupupupu…" The wall remains unscathed, aside from the giant blast mark left from the cannon.

"Did you not think a warning would've been helpful?" I growl, my eyes narrowing at the obscenely proud bear. He stops laughing.

"Why would I need to give _you_ a warning? I knew you'd be able to get out of the way," There's an edge to his voice, a glint in his eye. Something about the way he says that sentence makes it seem like… like he knows more than he lets on. It's unsettling.

Monokuma resumes his giggling and the tension lifts just as abruptly as it settled.

"Wowzers! That was exciting!" The bear reforms his arm to its original state, flexing it for show afterwards. "Just what I needed after all of you bores moaned at me,"

"…You're an incredibly advanced contraption," Whoever came up with a half black, half white teddy bear implanted with a bomb and equipped with a cannon for an arm to warden over us has quite the imagination.

"Aww, stop, you're making me blush!" At my slightly puzzled expression, Monokuma cackles again. I wish he wouldn't laugh so much. It's annoying. "Well, that concludes your teaching for today! I hope you've learned a valuable lesson that…" He hops onto the table I'm standing behind and leans forward directly into my face. "The only way you're getting out of here is if you go and murder someone."

The bear is far too close for comfort, but my stubbornness prevents me from backing away and letting him win. Much to my relief, though, our unspoken battle doesn't last long. Monokuma soon stands up straight once more and expends a dramatic sigh.

"Phew! I'm exhausted! Firing a cannon takes a lot out of a bear like me!" Rubbing the side of his head pitifully, he turns his back to me and strolls away. "Your teacher needs a lunch break. Your homework is to get some heads rolling whilst I'm away… literally! See ya!"

And just like that, the bear disappears. I'm not even given a second to revel in my newfound solitude before I hear even, steadfast footsteps approaching the cafeteria. As I swivel to greet the door, it opens to reveal Kyoko. First, she momentarily inspects the mess of a scene in front of her, then her gaze finds me and she notes my presence.

"What happened here?" She asks passively.

"Monokuma happened." Is all the answer I'm willing to give. She nods once and then resumes her inspection.

Although she seems as done with the conversation as I am, I don't want to risk being interrupted during my exploration a third time, so I don't remain. Instead, I weave my way through the scattered chairs until I reach the smaller room attached to the cafeteria.

It's a kitchen. A fancy one at that. An assortment of vibrant colours permeate my vision from various fresh ingredients that are on display. Ingredients aren't the only thing there's plenty of, either – there are more cooking tools and appliances, many of which I don't recognise, than any person would ever need. Then again, I suppose that before today this school was used to accommodating a lot more than just 16 students.

Satisfied that I'm not going to starve to death, I leave the cafeteria to find that the rest of the students have dispersed around the area. I spot Aoi, Sakura, Mondo and Sayaka travelling together, a still unconscious Makoto slung over Mondo's shoulder. They march off in the direction I believe to be the dorm rooms, most probably on the hunt for Naegi's room specifically. With how flimsy of a physique Makoto has, he's certain to be out cold for at least the next few hours, if not the rest of the day. It's his own fault; the dumbass shouldn't have gotten involved with the spat in the first place.

Rounding the corner of the cafeteria, I encounter a short corridor with another tauntingly blocked set of stairs and a door. It's locked and messily cordoned off with police tape. Except, as opposed to the red doors, this one has a perfectly pickable-looking lock on it, visible through the gaps in the tape. I automatically reach for my jacket before my hand stops in place, remembering that Monokuma took the liberty of confiscating my belongings, so instead I move to detach a couple of grips from my hair and work on reshaping them. Once the task is complete, I arm myself with my new, makeshift lock picks and bend down to tackle the door.

I've not even begun to touch the lock.

"Hey hey _hey!_ Whaddya think you're doing!?" He uses the same greeting he had in the cafeteria, but now it's a lot angrier. This time choosing to ignore the bear that has shown up throwing a hissy fit besides me, I persist in prodding at the lock, tempting fate as to how far I'll be allowed to get.

"The rules openly stated that we're free to explore the school, did they not?" I mumble, the focus taken out of my words to be aimed at the door before me.

"With minimal restrictions! Geez, I can't leave you alone for _5_ seconds!" Monokuma hops up and down in outrage, which I assume is a ploy to draw my attention away. Much to his displeasure, I respond by glowering at the lock. "Look, punk, you wanna be punished _that_ badly do ya?"

"I'm not breaking any rules to be punished for," Almost there…

"Oh, well in that case I'll make one for ya!" Brightening up considerably, Monokuma ceases jumping about. Damn it. My hands freeze, and I finally face him. He's coiled himself inward, paws balled at his chest and his whole stance trembling. "Rrrrrrrrrrrr…" He's… growling. For what reason, I couldn't guess. This visage carries on, the growling becoming progressively louder until he thrusts his arms out into the air. "Raaargggghhh!"

Bewildered, I deadpan at the bear. The display takes unimpressive to a whole new level. Was that supposed to be punishment, or…?

"There! A new rule has been added to your trusty e-handbook!" Grinning from ear to ear, rubs his stomach as if he's just had a filling meal.

" _That's_ what that performance was supposed to be?"

"Yup yup! Now, like the merciful headmaster I am, I'll let you off this time," He says, before his voice once more reverts to the sinister tone I'm beginning to get used to expecting. "But next time I won't be so forgiving! Now scram, and this time don't go doing anything that'll make me have to come back a third time!" Despite being the one to order _me_ to go away, Monokuma pulls off his usual vanishing act before I even get a chance. A quick check of my e-handbook confirms that there is indeed now a new rule, one that prohibits 'forcefully entering a room locked by Monokuma'. I exhale heavily at the door, then I stand up, tuck away my now rendered useless lock picks in a pocket and head towards the dorms.

Every person's dorm room is easily identifiable by the nameplate hanging on each door, sporting a childish little portrait of the room's owner. Mine is located on an edge of one of the rows next to Celestia's. It's unlocked, reminding me that we were never given a key of any sort to our dorms. My worry proves unwarranted, however, as I zero in on an item of that very nature resting on a table upon entering my room. Another object to be pocketed.

In contrast with the grandiose presentation of the rest of the school, the bedroom is simple and minimalistic. More like what I'm used to. It's possible these were put together with the sole purpose of housing us for this killing game, that they weren't an original part of the building. The necessities are all present: a bed, desk, wardrobe, shelves and a bin. The bathroom that comes with my room is just as modest.

I've also been provided with a few extra objects of use, such as the notepad and ball point pen stationed next to my room key. To my perplexity, inside one of the desk drawers I come across a brand new sealed sewing kit. I then see it's accompanied by a poster detailing all the human body's vital organs. Oh. I presume Monokuma intends for me to use the sewing implements as a weapon. Unwrapping the kit, I lift out a sizable pair of scissors and test its weight in my hands. The tool feels so foreign, so unfamiliar. There's also a particularly long pair of sharpened needles in the box – not that they're any more comfortable than the scissors – but there aren't any other viable weapons there. I toss the box back in the drawer.

The last thing of note in the room is an announcement pinned to my wall, apparently written by Monokuma.

 _'_ _Each room's lock has been designed to completely protect against tampering or lock-picking.'_ Good. Otherwise it would be far too easy to get killed in the night. _'Remaking an individual room key is quite troublesome, so please make sure not to lose yours. Your room comes furnished with a shower, but please note that water is turned off at nighttime. Also, the bathrooms in the girls' rooms include a lock of their own.'_

…Why? Does Monokuma expect any of the girls to be foolish enough to let anyone else in their room in order to warrant this lock in a game of murder? _'Finally, I've prepared a small gift for each of you. For the girls, a sewing kit. The sewing kit includes a map of the body's vital organs. One stab will do the trick, girls!'_ How crass. _'For the boys, I believe a strong blow to the head with any of the tools should be ample. Don't think. Just feel! And let's all enjoy ourselves!'_

Something gives me the impression that Monokuma's idea of enjoyment is a little skewed. With that, though, I've covered the entirety of my room. Taking it down from the wall, I drop the piece of paper in the bin and take my leave.

Upon entering the trash room I run into Kiyotaka.

"Ah, Evelynn! Are you making the most of your investigation?" He booms, standing to attention as he greets me. He really _doesn't_ have an inside voice, does he.

"What does it matter to you?" Muttering back to him, I step to the side of his rigidly postured body without even a passing glance in order to survey the room, a far more important task than the pointless chat he's trying to make. There's a trap door – locked, just like half of the doors in this godforsaken school – and yet another set of steel shutters guarding me from a large, metal trash incinerator hiding away right at the back of the room. During the entirety of my inspection, Kiyotaka obnoxiously persists in justifying his need for my cooperation.

"As the figurehead of this group, it's my duty to ensure that all my fellow classmates are working their absolute hardest together so that we can find a solution to this dilemma! I'm confident that if we all-"

"Who decided that I was part of your little fantasy group?" My interruption momentarily gives Kiyotaka pause, but not for much longer than a few seconds. Recovering quickly, he folds his arms in one fluid motion and maintains his assertive eye contact.

"Evelynn, your attitude is not the correct way to deal with this situation! You should be putting your efforts into forging a team with us so that we can face the trials ahead of us both efficiently and effectively! In fact, I have just the thing," Drawing out a silver key from the front pocket of his military shirt, Kiyotaka presents it in front of my face proudly. I think he's trying to pawn it off on me. Instead of taking it like he wants me to, however, I just look at it suspiciously.

"And that is…?" I prompt him, impatience beginning to crawl on my skin.

"This is the key to opening the shutters in this room. Only moments ago, Monokuma spoke with me about janitorial duty, giving me the task of delegating the responsibility. I intend on constructing a weekly rota, of course, but I believe that to help integrate you into the group, you would be best suited to accept the role first. I expect great things from you Evelynn!" He laughs heartily, like the decision has already been made.

At first my plan is to not pay him any mind, until I realise he's being entirely serious. Then I'm just bewildered. How can he care about such a trivial subject at a time like this?

"No chance. Get someone who's actually _willing_ to play along as your mindless crony to do it." Knocking his extended arm away from me, I ignore his indignant orders for me to wait as I exit the room. I'm sick of having to interact with these people already and I'm eager to finish up my exploration of the school so that I can return to my room. Luckily, my bearings from the route I've taken indicate that I'll be coming full circle back to the where the cafeteria is now, meaning I only have one more door left to check.

That door takes me into the laundry room. Washing lines string from wall to wall in wait for clothes to be hung on them, arranged in neat rows above a queue of washing machines. And that's it for anything of importance – not that I would've expected much else from a laundry room. With that, however, I now have the small comfort that all living needs are catered for, like the bear promised.

I turn on my heel and start walking again before my momentary lack of movement allows for any feelings on this whole mess to surface. I'm almost thankful that this standpoint is so ridiculous, so unrealistic, that my emotions have yet to grasp a hold of it, to establish any potentially hindering notions in my mind. I can't let my guard down. I must constantly stay alert.

My feet automatically carry me back to the cafeteria before I know it. Confused as to why, I reorganise my thoughts, scanning the room until my eyes come to a rest on the entrance to the kitchen. Oh. I'm hungry. That makes the most logical sense, considering my breakfast this morning was less than substantial compared to usual. A result of cooking for myself, I suppose.

 _'_ _You're not gonna last a week on your own,'_

A teasing voice.

 _'_ _What will you do without me looking after all your domestic needs?'_

Briskly clearing my mind, I head over to the kitchen. It's a little early for food when compared to my typical routine, but it seems like routine is going to be rare in this school. Let's see if I can make myself something to eat.


	6. Chapter 5

_A/N: The chapter in which I'm the most productive at writing at 3am :') I'll admit it feels satisfying to throw in my own headcanons into this story to answer some questions I've always had about this game! But I'll say no more and let you read. Hope you enjoy it!_

* * *

 **Chapter Five:**

*Ding dong*

I look up from scrawls of notes I've jotted on the notepad. What on earth is someone ringing my doorbell for? Without even any hesitation, the first idea that jumps to mind is that someone's already come to try and kill me. Leaving the notepad behind on the desk, I tread across the room and move into a defensive stance in anticipation, ready to deflect any murderous intent. I open the door.

"Evelynn! We thought you might be here," The chirpy voice of Aoi accompanied by Sakura and Mondo allows me to loosen my stance slightly.

"What do you want?"

Now what kinda attitude was _that_ for _,_ chick? We haven't even said anything yet," Mondo sneers at me, although there's no visible anger showing from him yet. Sakura holds up a hand to halt him all the same, stepping in to actually give me the answer I'm looking for.

"You missed the conversation, since you left the gym early this morning," She starts, folding her arms calmly, "But we all came to the decision to reconvene at the cafeteria at 7pm after spending the day exploring the school, to go over what we've learnt. We stopped by to recommend you join us." As tempted as I originally was to reject the offer and shut the door on them, I reconsider in favour of the prospect of new information. I didn't exactly search every single nook and cranny in the school, so it's not unlikely that there's some discoveries others have made that I'm unaware of. Hooking my room key out of my pocket, I sidestep around Aoi who's eagerly half stood in my doorway and go to lock the door behind me, forcing her back out into the corridor.

"Sure."

Most people are gathered around the large table in the centre of the room, after Kiyotaka frantically realigned all the chairs that had been scattered in Monokuma's earlier blast. Sitting separately from the rest are Byakuya and Toko whilst I lean against the counter of the kitchen, having retrieved a glass of water. Even Makoto, acting as if he never got whacked in the face at all, is present at this meeting.

"Okay, it looks like everyone's here. Time to start the meeting! Let's all go around and share what we found out during our respective investigations. The sooner we find out what's going on, the sooner we get out of here!" Kiyotaka announces, unsurprisingly stepping up to take control, "And I'll start us off! I myself have been scouting out the school dormitory and I've made the discovery of the century! I found that there was exactly one room for each person!"

Everyone is suitably unimpressed.

"Well yeah, I figured that out before anything else," Aoi shrugs, prompting murmurs of a similar nature to hers around the table. Amidst the chatter, however, Junko pipes up with something more beneficial.

"Chihiro and I found out that all the dorm rooms are totally soundproof, though,"

"Mmhmm, your next-door neighbour could scream their lungs out, and you wouldn't hear a thing…" Chihiro says tentatively. That's interesting. In that case, if the dormitory rooms _were_ a new build for the killing game then whoever manufactured them must have had good resources and the right methods. They can't have been in much of a rush.

"That can't be all you have to re-report, can it Mr. Honour S-Student?" Toko's pointed question strikes Kiyotaka with a flash of renewed enthusiasm and he lurches up from resting his hands on the table

"As a matter of fact, it's not!" He clears his throat resolutely, "As some of you may know, the trash room next to the dorms are blocked by shutters. Monokuma himself has entrusted me with the key to them!"

"You saw Monokuma?" Sakura inquires.

"That sounds suspicious as Hell," Leon, rocking back on his chair with arms propping his head up, responds languidly. But Kiyotaka isn't deterred in the slightest.

"I can assure you that I've checked this fact myself and the key does indeed open the shutters! And so, I'll be structuring a weekly rota in order to fairly assign the responsibility of holding this key! Are there any volunteers for the first week?"

"Oi oi, you make it sound like you're plannin' on us staying stuck in this school forever," A growl coming from a growingly apprehensive Mondo stirs more unrest around the table.

"O-of course not! But whilst we're here in this situation it's vital to have order and for everyone to take care of their surroundings, as it helps encourage a healthy lifestyle and attitude!" Although many remain seemingly unconvinced by Kiyotaka's confidence, Hifumi decides to answer his previously ignored question, adjusting his glasses dramatically as he does so.

"In that case, I'll take on the quest of managing the trash room! All who desire to enter past the shutters must first come to me!"

"Excellent! I'll have the weekly timetable for trash room monitor ready within the week!" Kiyotaka beams, handing the key over the Hifumi.

With that problem out of the way, everyone returns to discussing what they each found out about the school. Accompanying this discussion, unfortunately, is a new problem; most of their accounts end up boiling down to 'we tried to find a way to escape but failed'. And that's not to even mention Byakuya's incredibly clipped and unhelpful 'if I'd uncovered anything, naturally I'd have more to say, but I didn't'. On the other hand, Celestia, Hifumi and Toko neglected to so much as explore the school at all, instead deigning to stay put in the gym for whatever reason and leave everyone else to do all the work. It's Sayaka who eventually reports something new.

"I went and had a look around the dining hall, and it looks like we don't have to worry about food at least. There's a fridge in the back of the room, and it was overflowing with all kinds of stuff,"

"Sure, for now. But even with all that, there are sixteen of us. How long can the food last?" Hifumi sags as he points this out with a dejected sigh. Sayaka continues on.

"I don't think we have to worry about it. The fridge gets automatically restocked every day. At least, that's what Monokuma said…"

"You saw him too!?" Junko exclaims, interrupting her.

"Yeah, he came out of nowhere while I was checking the fridge, told me that, then disappeared again." She explains, looking to the ceiling as she recalls the events.

"A weaponized toy that can just appear from nowhere… I can't tell if we're supposed to be afraid or not," Despite saying this, Chihiro looks afraid anyway, holding her hands close to her chest. Junko bursts out suddenly with a torrent of panicked words.

"Ughhh! This sucks! Sucks sucks _sucks_! We're stuck here like prisoners! We could die any second! We need to _do_ something!"

And just like that, she triggers panic and fear in everyone else. Some people start arguing and talking over each other, while others try fruitlessly to calm them down. Mondo's easily one of the loudest.

"She's right! We can't be sittin' around here like dumbasses right now! We gotta do something, or-"

"You're all spending an awful lot of time yelling and carrying on," Kyoko's first words of the evening carry the same sharp edge she had when she ordered Mondo to throw away Monokuma. It shuts everyone up instantly. "Do you really think you can afford to do so? Have none of you accepted the reality of the situation?"

Apparently, that's all she has to say on the matter. She moves on to slide something onto the table, which I'm too far away to be able to see. Makoto helps me out with that, reaching out to pick it up and look at it.

"Huh? What's this?"

"It appears to be a map of Hope's Peak Academy," She replies.

"Soooo what's it mean?" Junko asks back impatiently, glancing over Makoto's direction to try and figure out the map.

"Just look at it," Kyoko furrows her brow in thought before elaborating. "The building we're in right now is laid out in precisely the same way as the old school building of Hope Peak's Academy. Although it looks like it's had a number of strange… renovations done to it. I don't know all the details. All I found was details about the first floor," That grabs my attention. I place the long-finished glass I'd been drinking from down on the counter before moving over to Makoto, peering above his shoulder at the piece of paper.

"Are the dormitory rooms part of these strange renovations?" Figuring that Kyoko has been thorough in checking the map, I decide to ask her.

"According to that, they were classrooms," She briefly removes the map from Makoto's possession, flipping it over to reveal the area we're currently in, the way it used to be before Monokuma christened it 'Despair Hotel'. She's right. All sixteen rooms that we now are meant to sleep in are labelled as classrooms on the map. How… convenient for whoever remodelled them.

Of all people to speak up, Makoto is the one to raise his voice next.

"Uh, can I ask something?" Everyone turns to look at him, which he takes as permission to go ahead. "Does anyone know what exactly happened here? When Sayaka and I first arrived at the cafeteria, the tables and chairs were a mess and the glass over there looks like it has… scorch marks… on it?" Ah. I was wondering if someone was going to bring that up.

"I believe Evelynn has the answer to that question, don't you?" Kyoko says, singling me out. I haven't yet given a report, but I suppose I don't have much choice but to get it out of the way with now.

"Monokuma shot a cannon at it to prove that it was indestructible," In my attempt to shorten the story as much as possible, I end up raising more stunned questions around the table.

"Woah, a cannon? Where'd he get that from?" Yasuhiro blurts out, nearly falling backwards in his chair.

"It's part of his arm or something," Glossing over my lack of knowledge of technology, I reply somewhat vaguely. "Either way, you're not going to be escaping through there anytime soon,"

"His arm is a cannon!? Who the Hell even made that freak!?" An obviously distressed Leon leads everyone else into panic mode once more, provoking an onslaught of questions thrown at me about Monokuma. I grit my teeth in irritation.

"How am I supposed to know? Go ask the bear yourself if you want to know that badly!" I raise my voice in order to cut everyone off, their voices petering out slowly after I do so. Taking a deep breath, I throw on a last comment on my report, something I almost considered not bothering to mention. "He also added a new rule. You might want to check that."

An out-of-place giggle directs my gaze towards Celestia.

"It seems splitting up to investigate was a good idea, after all," She smiles with a sickening pleasant demeanour, resting her chin on her interlocking fingers.

"Yes, because you were so helpful with the investigations, weren't you," I respond harshly. She brushes off my comment like I never said it at all.

"Haven't you b-been listening? Looking around was a t-total waste of t-time!" Joining in now is Toko, who has more or less spent the entire time standing away from the group next to Byakuya and glowering at them all until now. "We d-didn't find a way out, d-didn't find who's behind this. We still have no idea what's g-going on!"

"Hm? Is it not crystal clear to you what is going on?" Pinning down Toko with a fierce stare that could pierce souls, Celestia leans forward across the table. Her sudden mood swing reminds me almost of Monokuma's. "It is perfectly obvious that we have been imprisoned in some secret location, with no way out." These words hit Toko like a ton of bricks and she lets out a strangled cry. She buries her hands in her hair in a desperate motion, glasses askew, eyes tightly shut.

"You didn't h-have to go and s-say that! I w-was trying not to th-think about it! N-no way out… We're t-trapped here… What are we s-supposed to do!?" Byakuya sniggers from next to her.

"It's very simple. If you want to leave, you just have to kill-"

"Don't even joke about that!" Absolutely livid, Junko launches out from her chair and slams her hand down on the table Byakuya's sitting at. Another carefully controlled laugh emanates from Celestia, who just looks amused at everyone's actions.

"All we can do is adapt," She states simply. "Adapt to living our lives here from now on."

"Live here…? Are you saying we should just accept it?" On the verge of tears, Chihiro cowers away from the progressively more serious goth lolita.

"A lack of adaptability… is a lack of survivability. Survival is not based on who is the strongest or the smartest. It comes down to who can adapt."

I resist pulling a face and grumbling about her words. I should know more than anyone that she's right, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. Although, adaptability isn't just restricted to living in this school forever in this scenario; I can't trust anyone not to take it one step further and choose to adapt to the killing game itself. The second they do, they'll undoubtedly be a murder on our hands.

"As someone who has come out on top more than once, I suggest that we ourselves add a new rule," Celestia continues, "One that prohibits leaving our dorms during the period of 'nighttime'."

"How come?" Makoto asks, tilting his head with a surprised expression.

"The way things are now, every time night comes we will all start to get worried and anxious. We will be afraid that someone might try and come kill us. If we carry on like that night after night for who knows how long, it will wear us down in no time."

"So you're suggesting we limit our activity at night as a kind of preventative measure." Inclining her head in thought, Sakura clarifies Celestia's explanation, earning a nod of approval from her. There's a significant problem with her proposal though.

"This won't be an official school regulation, will it? How exactly am I supposed to trust that no one will agree to the rule before prowling around at nighttime while my guard is down?" I challenge her, seemingly voicing what a few others are thinking as I hear a vague clamour of agreement supporting my view.

"If you stay in your room with the door locked, it shouldn't be a problem should it?" She counters back, smiling all the while.

"Then what's the point of having this rule if simply following those actions prevents anyone getting to you anyway?" This rule she wants to impose seems more like a waste of time than anything to me. However, people agree with me less on this point.

"Even so, it's like the goth lolita said. Without something like that, we're just gonna self-destruct." Junko interjects into our argument, followed by a few others verbally backing her up. Then they're followed by Celestia making the assumption that those few others represent every single person in the room.

"So is everyone in agreement? Good."

I still fail to see the logic behind devising that rule, but with that, the meeting more or less comes to an end. Once Kiyotaka orders everyone to meet back up at the cafeteria first thing tomorrow morning, most people begin to filter out of the room to return to their dorms. I'm about to do the same myself before I catch on to a conversation between Sayaka and Makoto.

"Makoto… are you ready to call it a day?"

"Uhm, actually… what with being knocked out, I haven't had any food since I arrived at Hope's Peak," He gives a half-hearted, somewhat sheepish laugh. "Do you mind if I get something to eat before we head back?"

"Ah, not at all! I'll come get something to eat with you as well,"

The pair of them head off into the kitchen. I check the clock. 8:10pm. Again, I've forgotten about food. My attempts to make a lunch earlier produced just as underwhelming results as breakfast did, putting me off the idea of trying to cook myself a dinner now. Still, I remind myself that food is important and propel my body towards the kitchen, despite Makoto and Sayaka's presence there. I know all too well that if I were to convince myself to come back later once they're gone, I wouldn't end up coming back at all.

The couple greet me the second I enter the kitchen.

"Oh, hey Evelynn! Looking for some food too?" Sayaka offers me a weary smile, while Makoto is busy rummaging through the cupboards.

"Yeah," My eyes land on an open crate of apples on display. Deciding that they'll be good enough, I pick one out and absentmindedly give it a few upward tosses before taking a bite. I turn to leave.

"Ah, wait Evelynn!" I was so close to getting away. Taking a step back through the doorway, I see that Makoto's attention is now focused on me, having finished his search and chosen a packet of some sort of snack. He's evidently just as unmotivated to make a proper meal as I am. "Did you want to eat with us?"

What a stupid question to ask.

"No thanks." I shut him down abruptly.

"B-but since we'll be here together for a while, doesn't it make sense to get to know each other? After all, if everyone becomes friends, we'll be able to figure a way out of here that much quicker," Ugh. This guy is almost as bad as Kiyotaka.

"I said no. I'm not looking for friends." Both Sayaka and Makoto look taken back, but I ignore them, forcefully ending the conversation there by leaving them to walk back to my dorm for the night.

Upon entering my room I chuck the remaining apple core into the bin and collapse on my bed, not bothering to prepare accordingly for sleep. It's strange; I typically don't need much sleep compared to most, but right now my body feels heavier and more tired than it's been in a long time. I suppose that's due to the ridiculous situation I've gotten myself into. Thinking back on what a day it's been, I easily succumb to the pull of sleep.


End file.
